To my knowledge (I looked in to it a little last year) the services have a joint policy on service diving and only recognise BSAC. This doesnt present too much of a problem though as most PADI resort diving centres will accept your BSAC qualifications, but BSAC clubs dont recognise PADI.

To my knowledge (I looked in to it a little last year) the services have a joint policy on service diving and only recognise BSAC. This doesnt present too much of a problem though as most PADI resort diving centres will accept your BSAC qualifications, but BSAC clubs dont recognise PADI.

squirt

Guest

Old-Salt

Remember, of course, that while BSAC is the largest club in the world, it is just that - a club. PADI is NOT a club but they have more instructors in more locations throughout the world. I have seen, above, the mention of dry suit training. PADI do this as a matter of course if you take your qual in somewhere that requires it - ie; Scotland. BSAC skip it if the course is done some where warm with them - Sharm, etc. The infighting between the two is quite crap and at detriment to people who actually just want to dive.

Old-Salt

Well said. I learnt to dive in Belize and got PADI quals. In Brunei I dived all over the region - Sipidan and Phillipenes and had no problems with PADI quals however some friends with only BSAC did have problems! To dive with the garrison Club I had to re do all my quals and get BSAC'd. The Army BSAC blokes are on the whole up thier own arrses and constantly dis PADI. Around the world I have the most enjoyment diving as a PADI diver and I am still alive! Listen to the BSAC people and it is all doom and gloom with instant death for all those who dive PADI. The year I learnt to dive in Belize there was only one accident and that was on a BSAC dive! PADI don't dis BSAC however most BSAC people never stop going on about PADI.

Old-Salt

yeah, it's actually really annoying. I was PADI OWD qualified in the Maldives over Christmas but when I took up a new job in Faslane I was told that not only did I have to convert to BSAC to dive with Bootnecks / Matelots but that I had to have another medical exam plus a chest xray! Sod that, I just went in to Glasgow, did my dry suit conversion and went diving with mature adults.

LE

This is the third time there has been a PADI v BSAC post and as usual within a few posts a slanging match comes out. Usually:

PADI are unprofessional and donât train their students properly.

BSAC are up tight and you have to spend weeks in a classroom before you get anywhere near the water.

First the mil regs:

To dive with a military club you must be a member of BSAC and have a full sports diver medical as well as an annual self assessment declaration.

The exceptions to this are that on official diving expeds divers with other organisations can attend but must have had the above medicals and have their own 3rd party insurance. They will be limited to their own organisations restrictions as well as BSAC. So for PADI no decompression diving, OWD limited to 18m and AOWD limited to 30m max depth.

OTX can get authority for PADI training to conducted as part of the R & R package if BSAC training is unavailable, hence why PADI is taught in Belize.

Secondly the differences in the organisations philosophy:

PADI is based upon holiday tourist diving, in that the minimum safe training is given in order to get students in the water as quickly as possible. Rescue training is not given until the third diving grade as diving is based around being part of a group supervised by Rescue Divers and Divemasters. PADI is a profit making organisation run on an American franchise business model. Once you have a PADI qualification it last for life.

BSAC is based upon training divers up from the start to be able to plan, conduct and recover from a dive all by themselves. Before they leave the swimming pool they have been assessed on being able to rescue the instructor if required. BSAC is a non profit organisation which in run on a branch system, there are hundreds of branches which organise diving in a local area as well as in house training. The BSAC qualification lasts for life as well but it is only valid if you are a current BSAC member (about Â£40.00 a year) and an in date medical.

Thirdly world wide recognition:

Both qualifications are recognised world wide however there are far more shops and service providers who teach PADI as opposed to BSAC. Because PADI is designed to make a profit, it is not unusual for unscrupulous centres abroad to refuse to recognise BSAC or other organisations diver qualifications in order to force money out of customers.

So what to choose:

This will depend on what diving you want to conduct,

If you just want to dive infrequently mainly on holiday or OTX there is no point paying out good money to BSAC each year â go PADI.

If you intend to dive a lot especially in the UK then you need the BSAC qualification it will prepare you far better for the challenges of UK diving. You will be amazed at he number of people who have undergone training in non tidal, 30 meter visibility warm water areas (Maldives, Cyprus, Belize etc) and think they are adequately trained to cope with jumping off a charter boat off of Portland.

The standard of instruction varies on those teaching not the organisation.

Before anybody tries to have a go at me I teach both PADI and BSAC and have dived all over the world.

The best bet is to get on Armyâs BSAC Ocean Divers course at Bovington as there is an opportunity to get the PADI Open Water Diver qualification at the same time.

Born to make big holes in small counties!
Rank is no measure of intelligence!

RIP

I was a military trained SCUBA diver (SF Combat Diver course Key West, FL) and still dive as a PADI Master Diver. I've been diving since 1954. I also seved as a rescue/recovery diver for my police department. I have also dived around the world.

You are right, many people here in the US bad mouth PADI; (Put-Another-Dollar-In) however, it really gets down to the instructor and his/her teaching methods and lesson plans. All the various agencies, will teach you the basics of diving. Some go about it differently and may have different steps to the more advanced diving. To me, it is the individual instructor not the agency that is most important. All of the agencies have excellent instructors and all have poor ones as well.

Another factor here in the USA, is the local dive shops that you may want to deal, because of your relationship, with the people in that shop, as well how close to you they may be and the deals they may offer you. The Dive Shops are usually associated with an agency like PADI and/or others and teach based on the lesson plans/rules of that agency.

Of course I know nothing about BSAC, in fact never heard of it until I read about it here. The fact, that your military only excepts it, is very important to your people still in the military. It apparently leaves them no choice.

In the case of the American military, they are more interested in if you attended a reconized SCUBA diving course and were issued a certification card by that agency. Most all of the major agencies would be reconized, in fact PADI has dive shops on many American bases.

De Oppresso Liber - RLTW

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.- T.E. Lawrence, "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom"

LE

Correct but that is the Joint Service Centre at Bovisand, not the ARMY School run at BOVINGTON by Sub Aqua Diving Services. Because SADS is an outside agency they are sometimes able to offer PADI quals at the same time as BSAC. As Bovisand is a JS establishment they can only offer BSAC quals, except for the Rebreather course.

Born to make big holes in small counties!
Rank is no measure of intelligence!

S

squirt

Guest

LE

Bovington are contracted to provide BSAC courses only for the Army. Get on the Ocean Diver course and ask the instructors once you are there, The official course costs nothing as it is paid for by MOD, but if available and you will have to pay they may be able to offer a PADI qual at the same time.

Born to make big holes in small counties!
Rank is no measure of intelligence!

S

squirt

Guest

LE

Correct but that is the Joint Service Centre at Bovisand, not the ARMY School run at BOVINGTON by Sub Aqua Diving Services. Because SADS is an outside agency they are sometimes able to offer PADI quals at the same time as BSAC. As Bovisand is a JS establishment they can only offer BSAC quals, except for the Rebreather course.